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(No Model.)

F. J. BRINGHAM. sBAMLEss LEATHERA ARTICLE..

Patented Sept.` 3, 1895.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEND J. BRINGHAM, OF O HICAGO, ILLINOIS,.ASSIGNOR TO THE SEAMLESS LEATHER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SEAM LESS LEATH ER ARTICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,444, dated September 3, 1895.

Application iiled October 6, 1894. Serial No. 525,097. (N o modell) To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, FRIEND J. BRINGHAM, late of San Francisco, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Chicago,l in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seamless Leather Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in 'manufactured articles of leather, in which a seamless pocket is formed by partially dividing a piece ot' leather edgewise so as to produce apocketed seamless blank, which is afterward expanded and shaped to form the seamless leather Yarticle required. Among the articles which can be formed from a slitted blank of this character may be mentioned spectacle, eyeglass, and opera-glass cases, pistol-holsters, sword-scabbards, cigar-cases, dice-boxes, music-rolls, pocket-books, and cartridge-belts, these articles being representative of the class. It is essential that for each article a seamless slitted blank be produced by dividing a piece of leather edgewise partially through both its l length and Width, which shall afterward be .formed or shaped into the required article, the latter being tubular, as in a music-roll or dice-box, or curved in elevation, as in opera or field glass holders, or approximately iiat, as in a spectacle-case, and tubular and in series, as in a cartridgebelt. These different shapes are produced from blanks of substantially the same kind by different forms of shaping-dies.

For convenience I have described in this specification and shown in the drawings a spectacle-case and a cartridge-belt made in accordance with my invention, in which--v 'Figure 1 is an elevation of the spectaclecase, and Fig. 2 a section on line oc fr. Fig. 3 is a view of the cartridge-belt.

It will be understood that while I have shown the invention as applied to a spectaclecase this is only a representative article, and my invention is broad enough to cover any article made of a single piece of leather slit-- ted edgewise partially through its width and partially through its length, to form a seamless expanded pocket closed on three edges and open on one.

The case A is made from a single piece of leather of sufficient thickness and of proper length and breadth to form the completed article. By means of a knife of proper shape the leather is slitted downward from one edge nearly to the other, so as to form a pocket d, closed at the ends. After the blank is slitted the opening is enlarged or expanded and subjected to pressure between dies, so that the leather is compressed into the proper shape desired.

The seamless leather pocket-blank which I have shown as adapted to a spectacle-case may, by the use of differently-shaped dies, be formed into other articles, such aspthose before mentioned; but in all of them it is essential to produce a slitted blank, divided edge- Wise partially through its length and width, so that before being shaped or finished it shall be a seamless leather pocket closed atits bottom and at its two ends and open at its top for the admission of an inner die of any shape which may be required for forming the particular article to be produced. Y

In some of the articles above referred toit may be found desirable to keep the pocket in the desired shape by inserting a stiifeningpiece of approximatelyl the expanded shape of the article,this stiffening-piece being preferably a piece of leather, tending to keep the article in shape.

The advantages of my invention lie in the fact that the necessity of stitching adjoining ends of leather is entirely avoided, and the v completed articles may be turned outvmuch more rapidly and cheaply than is now possible, while in their strength, appearance, and fitness for the purpose intended they are fully equal to those now in general use.

My invention also includes the application of a series of such pockets to a leather strap or belt, such as a cartridge-belt,as shown in Fig. 3. The edge of the strap or belt b is. slitted at intervals, as `at c, to forma series of pockets, these pockets being expanded and kept in this position by the insertion of stiifening-pieces d of leather of proper-form.

I claim- 1. A seamless article of leather made of a single piece of leather split edgewise forming IOC an expanded pocket, substntially as described.

2. A seamless reutiele of leather made of a single piece of leather split edgewise forming FRIEND J. BRINGHAM. 5 an expanded pocket and a stffening piece Witnesses:

inserted in said pocket to hold it expanded J. GUTHRIDGE, substantially as described. GEORGE BARRATT.

In testimony whereof I aftx my signature in presence of two witnesses. 

